Certain Fiscal and Time Limits With Respect to Special Event Fee Waivers 06-03-14

8/12/2019 Certain Fiscal and Time Limits With Respect to Special Event Fee Waivers 06-03-14

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CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA

Council Report

June 3 2014

Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

Jason Stilwell City Administrator

Janet Bombard Library and Community Activities Director

Consideration of a resolution authorizing certain fiscal and time limits

with respect to special event fee waivers

Recommendation s): Adopt the resolution authorizing certain fiscal and time limits with

respect to special event fee waivers

Executive Summary: The City continues to receive an increasing number of requests for event

fee waivers. In addition a number of long -running events held within the

City have been asking for and receiving annual fee waivers and or

reduced fees for years.

Fees are charged for special events to help offset costs for the

maintenance and upkeep of City property and facilitie s. Event fee waivers

result in a loss of revenue to the City for those purposes; therefore the

City should have clearly defined criteria and limit the dollar amount

granted for fee waivers in any given fiscal year.

Analysis/Discussion: An Internet survey of city and municipal fee waiver policie s indicates that

the overwhelming majority of cities grant special event fee waivers solely

to community -based nonprofit organizations organizations that provide

educational and or community programs and events that are open to the

general public free of cost and events of which the city is a sponsor or

co-sponsor. Under those policies fundraising events for which attendeespay an admission fee events in which vendors pay to participate and

events put on by fo r -profit organizations and businesses typical ly are not

eligible for fee waivers.

The above criteria certainly give clear -cut direction with regard to

granting event fee waivers but an argument can also be made for the

granting of fee waivers to for -profit events that bolster economic

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development or which attract visitors to the City. Therefore, it is notrecommended that the City limit itself to the policies outlined above, but

instead continues to entertain event fee waiver requests on a case-by

case basis. Council could, however, give priori ty to the above criteriawhen considering an event fee waiver .

Organizers of some ongoing events request annual fee waivers from

Council, and in certain cases have done so for years. It is staff's opinionthat Council should limit the number of years for which an organization

will be eligible for waivers of fees for the same event. While it takes time

to develop and establish a successful event, there comes a time at whichan event should be profitable and able to stand on its own . Staff

recommends that Counci l adopt criteria that limit ongoing event feewaivers to no more than three years from the inception of an event.

This fiscal year to date, the City has taken in 30,000 in event fee

revenues; 38,691 in specia l event permit fees has been waived so farthis fiscal year . s mentioned above, special event fees offset the cost to

the City for the maintenance and upkeep of its properties and facilities. In

order to contain the costs to the City of special event fee waivers and

direct more funds toward offsetting the property and maintenance cost s

associated with special events, Council might consider setting a cap of onthe total dollar amount of fee waivers authorized each fiscal year . Staff

recommends that the cap be set at 30,000 , which would realize anadditional 8,000 to 10,000 a year for the costs incurred by the City for

hosting special events.

Some cities also impose a limit on the amount of fees that may be waivedfor a specia l event . Individual Fiscal Year 2013/14 event fee waivers have

ranged from 4,635 to 12,636. The majority of the fee waivers werebetween 5,000 and 7,500 . Should Council want to consider such an

action , staff recommends a cap of 7,500 in fee waivers per event .

Staff further recommends establishing a line item in the CouncilDiscretionary budget for fee waivers. Doing so would make it easier for

both Council and staff to track the amount of fee s waived .

Recap of recommendations with regard to specia l event fee waivers:

Priority will be given to commun it y -based nonprofit organizations,

organizations that provide educational and or community

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iscal Impact :

Budgeted yes/no)

No

programs a nd events that are open to the general public free ofcharge, and events of which the city is a sponsor or co-sponsor

Limit the number of years for which an organization will be

eligible for ongoing waivers of fees for the same event to three

years from the inception of the event

Set a cap of 30,000 on the total dollar amount of fee waivers

authorized each fiscal year .

Impose a limit of 7,500 in waived fees for an event

Establish a line item in the Council Discretionary budget in order

to track the amount of fees waived

This fiscal year to date Counc il has waived 38 ,691 in special event

permit fees . f Council adopts the recommendation to waive no morethan 30 ,000 per year in special event fees , the City would realizeapproximately 10,000 per year in savings. Adopting the limit of no more

than three years of fee waivers for ongoing events and imposing a cap on

individual fee waivers will realize further savings for the City.

Funding Source general fund, grant, state)Council Discretionary Fund

Previous Council Action:

Decision History:

Reviewed by

City Administrator City Attorney

Asst City Admin.

Public Safety Dir

City Engineer

DDir of CPB

Library & cA i r a

3

Administrative Services

Dir of Public Svcs

Other


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CITY OF CARMEL BY THE SEA

CITY COUNCIL

RESOLUTION 2014

A RESOLUTION OF THE CIT Y COUNCIL O THE CITY O CARMEL BY THE SEA

AUTHORIZING CERTAIN FISCAL AND TIME LIMITS WITH RESPECT TO

SPECIAL EVENT FEE WAIVERS

WHEREAS, the City continues to receive an increasing number of requests for event feewaivers; and

WHEREAS, a number of long-running events held within the City have been asking for

and receiving annual fee waivers and /or reduced fees for years; and

WHEREAS, fees are charged for special events to help offset costs for the maintenanceand upkeep of City property and facilities; and

WHEREAS , event fee waivers result in a loss of revenue to the City.

NOW , THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITYOF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA DOES:

1 Adopt the following criteria for fee waivers in any given fiscal year:

Priority will be given to community-based nonprofit organizations,organizations that provide educational and/or community programs andevents that are open to the general public free of cost, and events of whichthe city is a sponsor or co-sponsor

The number of years for which an organization will be eligible forongoing waivers of fees for the same event will be limited to three yearsfrom the inception of the event

A cap of 30,000 will be set on the total dollar amount of fee waiversauthorized each fiscal year.

The amount of fees waived for an event will not exceed 7 ,500 A line item in the Council Discretionary budget will e established in

order to track the amount of fees waived

PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARMELBY-THE-SEA this 3rct day of June, 2014 y the following roll call vote:


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Certain Fiscal and Time Limits With Respect to Special Event Fee Waivers 06-03-14